Belgium: Investigation underway into suspected academic espionage by two Chinese researchers

Two Chinese researchers have been questioned by the Federal Judicial Police of Belgium amid an ongoing investigation into suspected academic espionage at the Université de Liège.

Investigators are seeking to determine whether the suspects overstepped the bounds of their official physics research activities to clandestinely acquire scientific and technological knowledge, Belgian media RTBF reported on 16/06/2026.

The researchers are suspected of engaging in clandestine activities on behalf of China and the Chinese Communist Party. The alleged events took place within the physics department of the Faculty of Sciences, where the university's security service noticed the presence, at night and on weekends, of a student intern and a previously unknown man on the campus a few months ago. A badge was allegedly being used and reproduced in a fraudulent manner to gain access to certain premises.

The student is undertaking an 18-month doctoral research stay in the physics department, but access to university buildings is prohibited outside of office hours without prior authorisation, which she didn't have.

The man seen in her company has no official university position in Liège and is therefore on campus without a legitimate reason. He is a researcher affiliated with the University of Lille in France, which has been alerted.

Further investigation by the university revealed unusual activity on its internal computer network, as well as possible connections to the outside world.

The University of Liège alerted external security services and the situation was reported to the State Security Service, which then sent the case to the prosecutor's office's "terrorism and espionage" section.

"The two individuals were questioned and then released without being charged," the federal prosecutor's office told RTBF. The investigation is still ongoing.